One side effect of no longer having yearly inspection requirements in this state is that insurance companies no longer have this access to yearly mileage information.
I recently received a request to submit at least two maintenance or repair invoices within a year timeframe that have odometer mileage shown on them in addition to completing a form attesting to my estimated yearly mileage in order to get the discount. If not, they will default to the worst case, 20k+ miles per year.
Since I do all my own work, I will likely never have the type of evidence they are requesting. Instead, I submitted pictures of my odometer readings with time stamps for every vehicle on my policy. If this is not sufficient, then I think I need to start considering alternatives.
All of my vehicles are relatively low mileage. Two of them less than 2k miles per year and the most used is less than 15k per year. My 2012 Ody has less than 35k miles total on it…
Curious who has low mileage discounts and how easy is it to maintain your discount with your current provider?
I want to have excellent online presence and discounts for good driver, multiple policies, low mileage etc. I also have motorcycle, boat, home and umbrella policies under the same provider.
I don’t know where you reside, but if NJM insurance is available in your state, I urge you to get a quote from them. In addition to “competitive” rates, they almost always give you a 10% rebate on your premium at the end of the year. My reasons for sticking with NJM also include their superior claims-paying record, and their excellent customer service. When CR rates auto insurance companies, NJM is usually ranked #1 or #2 in the country. This year, they dropped to the #2 spot when they were displaced from the top by Erie Insurance.
And, more to the point of your post, they don’t require any proof of my annual odometer mileage. When I informed them that I typically drive only ~8,500 miles per year, they took my word for it. The reduction in my premium for “low” mileage was minimal, but I didn’t have to provide any proof of my annual odometer miles.
How can something that is only available in 5 states (personal) be ranked anything for the entire country?? To me if something can be ranked number 1 or 2 in the country, it needs to be available in every (or almost all) state… Now saying it is ranked number X in the northeast makes more sense, but not country wide… just my twisted thinking…
Hmm. I’ve been with Allstate auto/home for over 30 years and have never had to provide any documentation for mileage on any car, either in this state or the other one we lived in. I do need to tell them what the vehicle is used for (business, personal, pleasure) and estimate yearly mileage, but only when adding a car and selecting coverage. Is declaring yearly mileage a requirement in your state or just for your insurance company?
Perhaps the low miles is a red flag?
I’ve come to believe that auto insurance discounts are like medical/dental prices. There’s a number out there, but with so many discounts to apply no one pays the stated price and makes it less meaningful. We have the home/auto bundle, safe driver, good student, e-smart, easy pay, whatever. The discounts alone on a 6-month premium is $4400, which makes me think the prices are inflated just so they can offer the various discounts.
Ok I’ll go off the rails a little to give the flagger some more exercise. (Who would have thought saying 30% of high school kids can’t read or do math at grade level or know what the 250 anniversary was about, would be upsetting.). State Farm offered a discount if you would install the tracker in your car. I told them to stick it and keep their discount.
I have an increased interest in privacy and lo and behold, a news article showed up involving Minnesota flock cameras. A guy had been surrounded by police thinking he had a stolen car as determined by the flock cameras. In the article they linked all the cameras in Minnesota. They are everywhere recording your movements. Even our little town has ten of them. I’m all for catching crooks and rapists, but you need to find a better way. These things are likely unconstitutional. It is no one’s business how many times I go to Walmart. Got a warrant for me, or a crime just committed, or a road block, fine. Otherwise back off. I know some of you would sell your liberty for 5% discount, but please think again.
Our state doesn’t even enforce insurance requirement. My insurance company just started doing this. Previously, they would sometimes send an attestation form for me to sign and I believe they could access the state inspection records where current mileage at the time of testing was recorded.
I’m sure there are people falsely claiming they are under the low mileage threshold. But what difference would it make if the mileage claimed is 1 mile under the threshold or 4k miles under it? This may just be some kind of net they decided to cast to see how many customers they could cull from the discount pool. The unintended side effect is ticking off some fraction of your customer base that finally decides to look elsewhere…
What’s missing from their calculation is failing to look at how much money I pay them every year with all the various policies I have with them and factoring that into the need to closely scrutinize one discount.
The only discount I will not pursue is any sort of active tracking device or service.
Thanks! I will definitely look to see.
I believe there is an office for them about 20 miles away. I would gladly take the time to drive there and have someone view the mileage once per year. However, they did not offer this option and I can understand why. It is far easier for them to manage it by putting the onus on the customer to provide evidence. The request form came from Florida…
